Dire Straits Appreciation Thread

[SGR]

I think Telegraph Road is their best tune. And Love Over Gold is probably their best album.

[bob_32_116]

My personal ranking of Dire Straits albums:

1. Love Over Gold
2. Dire Straits
3. On Every Street
4. Making Movies
5. Brothers In Arms
6. Communique

I only own the first two, but they all have quality stuff, and my ranking of the other for is not set in stone.

Making Movies suffers from the fact that the second half does not come anywhere near living up to the excellent first half, and it finishes with the awful "Les Boys". "Expresso Love" rocks well enough, but sounds a bit like Dires Straits by numbers in its similarity to some of their other songs.

"Brothers In Arms" was so ridiculously overplayed here that I find it hard to judge it fairly. "So Far Away" is a rahter dull-sounding song that was improved tremendously by the treatment they gave it live when I saw them on the tour. I never need to hear "Money For Nothing" again.

"Communique" is not as bad as my ranking might suggest, but sounds a bit like a poor cousion of the debut album. It is redeemed by the two closing tracks, which seem a bit like a two-part song.

"Love Over Gold" is one of the few albums that I give a perfect score. Only five songs, but every one a winner.

[TheBig3]

I've never understood why Mark Knoffler wasn't more highly praised for his playing.

One of the music Youtube channels did a thing where they were playing the solo from Stairway to Heaven as other guitarists might have, and what they played, and the requests in the comments section didn't include Knoffler at all. To me, his style is unique, interesting and completely unmatched.

[bob_32_116]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

I've never understood why Mark Knoffler wasn't more highly praised for his playing.

One of the music Youtube channels did a thing where they were playing the solo from Stairway to Heaven as other guitarists might have, and what they played, and the requests in the comments section didn't include Knoffler at all. To me, his style is unique, interesting and completely unmatched.

I don't know what circles you move in, but I have always heard him praised for his playing. It's one of the defining characteristics of Dire Straits.

[TheBig3]

I move in circles that do not discuss guitar players.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks

I think Telegraph Road is their best tune. And Love Over Gold is probably their best album.

Church

Originally Posted by bob_32_116

My personal ranking of Dire Straits albums:

1. Love Over Gold
2. Dire Straits
3. On Every Street
4. Making Movies
5. Brothers In Arms
6. Communique

I only own the first two, but they all have quality stuff, and my ranking of the other for is not set in stone.

Making Movies suffers from the fact that the second half does not come anywhere near living up to the excellent first half, and it finishes with the awful "Les Boys". "Expresso Love" rocks well enough, but sounds a bit like Dires Straits by numbers in its similarity to some of their other songs.

"Brothers In Arms" was so ridiculously overplayed here that I find it hard to judge it fairly. "So Far Away" is a rahter dull-sounding song that was improved tremendously by the treatment they gave it live when I saw them on the tour. I never need to hear "Money For Nothing" again.

"Communique" is not as bad as my ranking might suggest, but sounds a bit like a poor cousion of the debut album. It is redeemed by the two closing tracks, which seem a bit like a two-part song.

"Love Over Gold" is one of the few albums that I give a perfect score. Only five songs, but every one a winner.

Cathedral

Originally Posted by TheBig3

I've never understood why Mark Knoffler wasn't more highly praised for his playing.

One of the music Youtube channels did a thing where they were playing the solo from Stairway to Heaven as other guitarists might have, and what they played, and the requests in the comments section didn't include Knoffler at all. To me, his style is unique, interesting and completely unmatched.

Originally Posted by bob_32_116

I don't know what circles you move in, but I have always heard him praised for his playing. It's one of the defining characteristics of Dire Straits.

Originally Posted by TheBig3

I move in circles that do not discuss guitar players.

Then why are you asking the question??

Edit: Sorry the multiple quotes got a bit confused there and I'm too tired to go sorting them out.

[Guybrush]

Something that's not discussed much here is Mark Knopfler's solo career. It is great, fairly extensive and contains more bangers than the Dire Straits discography.

[SGR]

Originally Posted by Guybrush

Something that's not discussed much here is Mark Knopfler's solo career. It is great, fairly extensive and contains more bangers than the Dire Straits discography.

I'll admit, I've never checked out his solo stuff, what album(s) would you recommend as a starting point Mr. Tore?

[Guybrush]

Originally Posted by SoundgardenRocks

I'll admit, I've never checked out his solo stuff, what album(s) would you recommend as a starting point Mr. Tore?

Great songs are peppered throughout his solo discography, so I don't think you can make a misstep. A popular starting point still is Sailing to Philadelphia from 2000 (much better than his solo debut which came before). The title track, a duet with James Taylor, is one of the most beautiful songs of his entire career.



I've long since tired of the album as a whole, including the popular What it is and Silvertown Blues, but Speedway at Nazareth is still a great song that might get an occasional play here.

Later on in his career, you'll find something great wherever you look. I'll post some songs that I personally find noteworthy, but I'll add that I generally prefer his folkier sounds and ballads rather than his bluesy stuff. So with that skewness in mind, I'll pick out some nuggets from some of the albums I appreciate (and I haven't heard them all).

His album Get Lucky has some great, great songs. The title song is fantastic, but also quite known/played, so here are a couple of other gems:






Kill to get Crimson is another great album that I like a lot. A couple of favorites from there:






From Shangri-La, Boom Like That (a song about businessman Ray Kroc who took control of McDonalds) is one of his biggest charting singles and a great song:




Privateering is a double album which is full of great songs like the pirate-y title track, Yon Two Crows, Redbud Tree, Go Love, Dream of the Drowned Submariner, Radio City Seranade. Presently, I think my softest spot is for the ballad Seattle, even if I doubt it charts highly on other people's favourites from this particular album.




Is this too much? I'm sorry.

Get Lucky, Kill to get Crimson and Privateering are all good second step albums after Sailing to Philadelphia. But I also haven't heard his latest two and there's a bunch of soundtrack albums that I haven't listened to. I have checked out his collabs with Chet Atkins and Emmylou Harris, but didn't find them as appealing as his solo studio albums.

Not to start a big argument, but I compare his solo career a bit to Morrissey in that it's got a lot of great stuff in it and more people should know about it.. Moz controversy aside

[bob_32_116]

Originally Posted by Guybrush

Great songs are peppered throughout his solo discography, so I don't think you can make a misstep. A popular starting point still is Sailing to Philadelphia from 2000 (much better than his solo debut which came before). The title track, a duet with James Taylor, is one of the most beautiful songs of his entire career.

I like that. Hadn't heard it before.

I'd say either or both of the guys had been listening to Jimmy Webb's song The Highwayman, which is very similar in style.